Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread

With it’s soft texture, hint of honey and hearty whole wheat flavor, Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread tastes fantastic and will keep fresh for several days. But wait, there’s more; The recipe is also very easy to make. You can start the dough the night before and finish the bread in the morning to have fresh bread for lunch.

This wholesome loaf is similar to my White Sandwich Bread, but here I used honey instead of sugar, replaced 1/2 the white flour with whole wheat flour and eliminated the butter since whole wheat flour naturally contains a little fat.

I start the dough with a sponge, which simply means mixing water, flour and yeast together and allowing it to sit for at least 30 minutes or as long as 12 hours. The longer you let the sponge ferment, the tastier your bread will be. I was in a bit of a hurry so I just left mine out for 30 minutes on a warm spring day and continued making the dough.

After just 30 minutes on a warm spring day the sponge is active and ready.

Allow the dough to double in volume before shaping.

1-Flatten the dough into a rectangle 2-Fold like a letter 3-Roll tightly 4-Stretch to the size of the pan

If you’d like to start your bread the night before you can make the sponge and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Take it out the next day and continue making the dough and you’ll have fresh Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread for lunch. It’s also possible to make the dough the night before up to the step where you place it in the pan. Cover the pan in plastic wrap and allow it to rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight. Take it out the next day and bake.

I always mix bread dough in my Kitchen Aid Mixer, but the dough can certainly be made by hand. Start mixing with a wooden spoon and switch to your hands when the dough get too thick to stir. Bread dough is much more forgiving and less scary than it seems. And of course nothing smells or tastes as good as a freshly baked loaf of bread.

With it's soft texture, hint of honey and hearty whole wheat flavor, Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread tastes fantastic and will keep fresh for several days. But wait, there's more; The recipe is also very easy to make. You can start the dough the night before and finish the bread in the morning to have fresh bread for lunch.

In a mixer bowl combine the warm water, 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and yeast to form a smooth batter

Cover the bowl and allow the mixture to rise for 1/2 hour to an hour. The mixture should be full of large gas bubbles (see note).

Warm the milk in the microwave to about 100°F, close to body temp.

Add the milk, honey and salt to the sponge

Stir with the paddle attachment to combine.

Add the whole wheat flour and stir until the batter looks like thick pancake batter.

Change to the dough hook.

With the mixer running, slowly add enough of the bread flour until the dough gathers on the hook and clears the sides of the bowl. You might not use all the flour.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Knead for about a minute to form a smooth ball. If the dough is very sticky sprinkle a little more flour as you knead.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl covered with oiled plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for about 1-1.5 hours until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 325°F convection or 350°F regular

Place a small baking pan with stones on the floor of the oven to preheat

Hi Janet. The whiskey stones are meant to be chilled and used in a glass of whiskey. I stole my husband's whiskey stones to use for baking bread. You can use any stones you'd like. Even something you find in the garden. It's just to help create steam in the oven.

Hi Eileen,
Just to clarify, your instructions say to put yeast in the sponge and then again once you add the warm milk, honey and salt into the sponge. It doesn't say which amounts of yeast to put in the sponge and which amount to hold back, if any at all. Could you clarify this for me please? Thanks

Hi Eileen,
Thanks for the recipe! I am not sure what I did wrong, but I had to add well over 2 cups of all purpose flour to the mixture, before getting dough that held together enough to consider kneeding. It was still quite sticky once I turned it out of the bowl. Any ideas? Now it is rising on my windowsill. I look forward to tasting this bread.....love the method and that I can do it in my mixer, which I am still learning to use :)

Hi Ashley, Hmm, I'm not sure why you had to add so much more flour. Did you follow all the other ingredients? Did you use bread flour in addition to the whole wheat flour or all purpose flour? Using all purpose instead of bread flour could make a big difference. You might also find that the dough is less sticky after rising once.

Hi Ruth, I pre-heat stones in a pan on the floor of the oven. When I put the bread in the oven I pour water over the stones to create steam. The steam keeps the surface of the bread moist while it bakes and that creates a nice crust on the bread. I use "whiskey rocks" but any type of rocks will work. But you don't need to use the rocks. You can skip them all-together and the bread will still be good. You can see a photo of how I use the rocks in this post.

I accidentally forgot to warm my milk first, is my bread doomed? By the way, the first loaf I made ( I'm on my second) turned out beautifully and I followed the recipe right. So thanks for the amazing bread recipe, I'll never use another!

Hi Sarah. Thanks so much for trying the recipe. I'm glad you liked it. The milk is warmed to activate the yeast. Yeast is active at temps between about 40"F-140"F. So using cool or cold milk will just slow down the rising process, but it will still work. Sometimes if my dough is very cold I'll put the bowl with the dough over a bowl of warm water to help warm up the dough a little.

I have made your bread every week for the last three weeks. Now it is the only bread my husband wants. Forget the bread in the grocery store!!! I just made another loaf today. It is rising as I write this! Thank you for the recipe. It is delicious!!

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Baking is an art and a science, but it’s not rocket science. Anyone can bake if they have a good recipe and the helping hand of a seasoned baker. I’m a pastry chef and lifelong baker. I enjoy sharing my well-tested recipes with bakers of every skill level.Read more….

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